Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Tuesday Rock Roundup

Bruce Springsteen and his spokeswoman continue to remain silent regarding a new album with the E Street Band, but his wife and E Street Band singer Patti Scialfa says it will be out in the fall. While on a European promo tour for her new album, Play It as It Lays, in stores September 4th, Patti told an Italian journalist, "Bruce is just finishing the record now...and of course I still work with that, I still work with him. [It's] the best of both worlds." However, Patti would not give the release date. The last studio album Springsteen recorded with the E Street Band was The Rising in 2002.

Rolling Stone recently reported that The Yardbirds were going to reunite this fall with their former guitarists Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. But Beck's manager says the story is not true and that his client has no more dates booked beyond Saturday's appearance with the Yardbirds' original guitarist, Eric Clapton, at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago. The current edition of the Yardbirds, with original members Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty, start another round of U-S dates August 9th in Massachusetts.Former KISS drummer Peter Criss releases his first album in 12 years today. One for All is an autobiographical collection of ballads that he produced and recorded over two years. Criss says it was a conscious decision to record all ballads. "'Beth' [the number-one KISS song he wrote and sang] was a big success for me. I'm not an idiot. I'm gonna try to utilize my voice for what I think [it's best at]." Among the new material is "Space Ace," which he wrote for his former KISS bandmate, guitarist Ace Frehley. Other song titles include "Doesn't Get Better Than This," "Last Night," "Faces in the Crowd," "Heart Behind the Hands," "Send in the Clowns" and the title track, which features the Church of Transfiguration Boys Choir.Slash was recently honored by the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and the Velvet Revolver guitarist decided it was as good a time as any to return a guitar that he had stolen from the Hard Rock in Orlando, Florida. Slash admitted to swiping a guitar from the backstage area of the Hard Rock Cafe several years ago. He says he's played it many times since snatching it and decided that the July 14th ceremony would be a good time to return it.The Beatles' "Summer of Love" anthem is now being used to sell diapers. Proctor and Gamble has licensed "All You Need Is Love," which has been re-recorded, for use in its Luvs campaign. The spot includes the tag line "All you need is Luvs." Like other songs from the Fab Four that have been used in commercials, the publishing rights for "All You Need Is Love" are owned by Sony / A-T-V Music Publishing, a joint venture between Sony and Michael Jackson. This means they do not need permission from the Beatles camp to license the songs. "Hello Goodbye" is also currently being used to promote Target stores.

In other Beatle news...Gibson has just unveiled a John Lennon signature guitar as part of its "Inspired By" series. It's a replica of his Les Paul Junior, which he played at the One to One benefit concert in New York in August 1972. Limited to 300 units, the guitar has been aged to look like the original, which is on display at the John Lennon Museum in Tokyo. The guitar sells for 75-hundred dollars.The College of Marin in California is offering a course this fall called "Jimi Hendrix, His Life and Music." The seven-week, non-credit course will be taught by Hendrix biographer Steven Roby and promises to "trace Hendrix's musical roots through rare videos and audio including lost gems like Hendrix jamming with Little Richard and actress Jayne Mansfield." The course description tells prospective students they will "learn the real story behind 'Purple Haze,' and why Hendrix was banned from the B-B-C...and discover Hendrix's unreleased autobiographical sci-fi rock opera." Roby is a former employee of Experience Hendrix, the Seattle company formed by Hendrix's family. He wrote Black Gold, The Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix in 2002.Judas Priest is still working on a concept album about the 16th century prophet Nostradamus. A post on the band's website says, "All is going really well with the new album. Glenn Tipton and K-K Downing are working on their guitar parts. All of the guys are going to take a short summer break then will re-group to get back to working on the album." Singer Rob Halford has been quoted as saying the new material "sounds absolutely amazing." The album should be out next year.

Click here for the wrap-up of Tommie & Craig's Army Basic Training, complete with video of each of us pushing a 3.5 ton Humvee. Click and check it out. Do it for your country. Do it for Mom, baseball, and apple pie. At the very least, do it for these two poor, brave bastards who had to carry my fat ass halfway across the floor of the gymnasium...